Deformable (e.g., flexible and/or stretchable) device substrates, which can include a wide variety of materials, such as, for example, any of a myriad of plastics, metal foils, and glasses, are quickly becoming popular as a base for electronic devices. For example, deformable device substrates can provide an advantageous base for wearable consumer electronic devices, flat panel displays, medical imaging devices, etc.
Currently available wearable consumer electronic devices (e.g., chest strap or wrist-mounted fitness monitors) are expected to be developed into next generation wearable consumer electronic devices including bioelectronic sensors, closely coupled or integrated with the human anatomy to detect and/or diagnose multiple diseases in real-time, and with clinical level sensitivity. Exemplary next generation wearable consumer electronic devices can include transdermal electronic skin patches (i.e., smart bandages) that continuously monitor for disease state biomarkers in patients with common chronic conditions, such as diabetes, anemia, or heat disease. However, in order for such next generation wearable consumer electronic devices to make a successful transition from the research laboratory environment to market, production costs must be decreased and manufacturability must be increased.
Most low cost, high volume consumer electronic devices are manufactured today using silicon wafer-based microelectronic components, printed circuit boards (PCBs), and glass substrate-based flat panel displays. However, these conventional electronic device manufacturing technologies are fundamentally rigid and/or planar, while biological surfaces and systems are traditionally soft and/or pliable. Accordingly, these inherent incompatibilities have prompted increased research in new deformable electronic device manufacturing technologies to produce the next generation of wearable consumer electronic devices.
Initial development efforts have focused primarily on manufacturing flexible electronic devices using flexible plastic device substrates. These large area flexible electronics devices have been shown to be slightly bendable but not stretchable. For wearable consumer electronic device applications, these flexible electronic devices can provide shatter resistance, which is helpful in diagnostic applications where sensors need to come in direct contact with organic tissue (e.g., skin, bodily organs, etc.) and/or with consumables, such as for water quality monitoring or food safety inspection.
More recent development efforts have focused on manufacturing flexible electronic devices that are also stretchable. By making flexible electronic devices stretchable, such deformable electronic devices can conform to complex biological surfaces (e.g., organic tissue, etc.), and can be repeatedly deformed (e.g., flexed and/or stretched) without damage or loss of electronic device functionality. Examples of stretchable flexible electronic devices have been reported using stretchable conductive metal traces fabricated on deformable elastomeric plastic substrates. Generally, these stretchable flexible electronic devices have been manufactured by individually bonding discrete electronic components to the deformable elastomeric plastic substrates. However, these manufacturing approaches have failed to achieve the decreases in production costs and the increases in manufacturability that are needed to bring these deformable electronic devices (e.g., wearable consumer electronic devices) to market.
Meanwhile, another limitation of conventional deformable electronic devices results from non-emitting/detecting regions of the conventional deformable electronic devices that at least partially or entirely frame the conventional deformable electronic devices for various reasons. For example, various structures (e.g., power supplies, ground lines, data lines, tab pad connectors, etc.) are conventionally integrated at the non-emitting/detecting regions of the conventional deformable electronic devices. In certain examples, redundant structures are integrated as a countermeasure for device defects and/or to reduce electric noise, which can further increase the surface area of the non-emitting/detecting regions. These non-emitting/detecting portions of conventional deformable electronic devices can present numerous drawbacks.
For example, in medical imaging applications, these non-emitting/detecting regions can prevent a medical imaging device from fully imaging an object or patient in certain instances. More particularly, the non-emitting/detecting regions may prevent a medical imaging device from fully imaging the object or patient when another structure (e.g., a floor or examining bed) impedes the medical imaging device from being centered relative to the patient or object such that part of the patient or object falls within the non-emitting/detecting regions.
Also, in many applications, it can be desirable to arrange multiple electronic devices adjacent to each other, such as, for example, to render larger flat panel display or medical imaging areas. However, when arranging conventional electronic devices in combination, the non-emitting/detecting regions of the conventional electronic devices can result in optically visible and disruptive seams in the effective display or imaging areas of these combined electronic devices.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms “couple,” “coupled,” “couples,” “coupling,” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements or signals, electrically, mechanically and/or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled together but not be mechanically or otherwise coupled together; two or more mechanical elements may be mechanically coupled together, but not be electrically or otherwise coupled together; two or more electrical elements may be mechanically coupled together, but not be electrically or otherwise coupled together. Coupling may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant.
An electrical “coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include coupling involving any electrical signal, whether a power signal, a data signal, and/or other types or combinations of electrical signals. A mechanical “coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include mechanical coupling of all types.
The absence of the word “removably,” “removable,” and the like near the word “coupled,” and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.
The term “median plane” as used herein relative to a substrate, a semiconductor layer, or a portion of the substrate or semiconductor layer means a reference plane that is approximately equidistant from opposing first and second sides (e.g., bottom and top sides) or major surfaces of the particular substrate, semiconductor layer, or portion of the substrate or semiconductor layer. Meanwhile, the term “x-y plane” as used herein relative to a substrate, a semiconductor layer, or a portion of the substrate or semiconductor layer means a reference plane that is approximately parallel to opposing first and second sides (e.g., bottom and top sides) or major surfaces of the particular substrate, semiconductor layer, or portion of the substrate or semiconductor layer. In these or other embodiments, the “x-y plane” can comprise the “median plane,” and vice versa. Further, the term “z-axis” as used herein relative to a substrate, a semiconductor layer, or a portion of the substrate or semiconductor layer means a reference axis extending approximately perpendicular to opposing first and second sides (e.g., bottom and top sides) or major surfaces of the particular substrate, semiconductor layer, or portion of the substrate or semiconductor layer.
The term “bowing” as used herein means the curvature of a substrate or a semiconductor layer about its median plane. The term “warping” as used herein means the linear displacement of a surface of a substrate or semiconductor layer with respect to its z-axis. The term “distortion” as used herein means the displacement of a substrate or semiconductor layer in its x-y plane. For example, distortion could include shrinkage or expansion of a substrate or semiconductor layer in its x-y plane.
The term “CTE matched material” and the like as used herein means a material that has a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) which differs from the CTE of a reference material by less than about 20 percent (%). Preferably, the CTEs differ by less than about 10%, 5%, 3%, or 1%.
The term “flexible substrate” as used herein means a free-standing substrate that readily adapts its shape. Accordingly, in many embodiments, the flexible substrate can comprise (e.g., consist of) a flexible material, and/or can comprise a thickness (e.g., an average thickness) that is sufficiently thin so that the substrate readily adapts in shape. In these or other embodiments, a flexible material can refer to a material having a low elastic modulus. Further, a low elastic modulus can refer to an elastic modulus of less than approximately five GigaPascals (GPa). In some embodiments, a substrate that is a flexible substrate because it is sufficiently thin so that it readily adapts in shape, may not be a flexible substrate if implemented with a greater thickness, and/or the substrate may have an elastic modulus exceeding five GPa. For example, the elastic modulus could be greater than or equal to approximately five GPa but less than or equal to approximately twenty GPa, fifty GPa, seventy GPa, or eighty GPa. Exemplary materials for a substrate that is a flexible substrate because it is sufficiently thin so that it readily adapts in shape, but that may not be a flexible substrate if implemented with a greater thickness, can comprise certain glasses (e.g., fluorosilicate glass, borosilicate glass, Corning® glass, Willow™ glass, and/or Vitrelle glass, etc., such as, for example, as manufactured by Corning Inc. of Corning, N.Y., United States of America, etc.) or silicon having a thickness greater than or equal to approximately 25 micrometers and less than or equal to approximately 100 micrometers.
The terms “elastomeric substrate” and/or “elastomeric layer” as used herein can mean a layer comprising one or more materials, having the properties of a flexible substrate, and also having a high yield strength. That is, the elastomeric substrate and/or elastomeric layer is a free-standing layer that readily adapts its shape and that substantially recovers (e.g., with little or no plastic deformation) from applied stresses and/or strains. Because applied stresses and/or strains depend on environment and implementation, in exemplary embodiments, a high yield strength can refer to a yield strength greater than or equal to approximately 2.00 MegaPascals, 4.14 MegaPascals, 5.52 MegaPascals, and/or 6.89 MegaPascals.
Meanwhile, the term “rigid substrate” as used herein can mean a free-standing substrate that does not readily adapt its shape and/or a substrate that is not a flexible substrate. In some embodiments, the rigid substrate can be devoid of flexible material and/or can comprise a material having an elastic modulus greater than the elastic modulus of a flexible substrate. In various embodiments, the rigid substrate can be implemented with a thickness that is sufficiently thick so that the substrate does not readily adapt its shape. In these or other examples, the increase in rigidity of the carrier substrate provided by increasing the thickness of the carrier substrate can be balanced against the increase in cost and weight provided by increasing the thickness of the carrier substrate.
As used herein, “polish” can mean to lap and polish a surface or to only lap the surface.